Asian Social Science; Vol. 10, No.

2; 2014
ISSN 1911-2017 E-ISSN 1911-2025
Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education
27

A Demographic Analysis on Customer Acceptance towards Islamic
Pawn Broking in Malaysia
Norudin Mansor
1
, S. A. Bashir Ahmad
1
, Semanat Abu Bakar
2
& Irwan Ismail
1

1
Faculty of Business Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA Terengganu, Malaysia
2
Faculty of Management & Economic, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Malaysia
Correspondence: Norudin Mansor, Faculty of Business Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA Terengganu,
Malaysia. E-mail: norudinm@tganu.uitm.edu.my

Received: January 28, 2013 Accepted: November 18, 2013 Online Published: December 29, 2013
doi:10.5539/ass.v10n2p27 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ass.v10n2p27

Abstract
This paper attempts to explore the demographic factors towards one of the dominant pawn brokers in Malaysia
named Ar-Rahnu that has led the growth of Islamic pawn broking system comprehensively. Specifically, this
study examines the demographic elements in capturing the customer acceptance towards Islamic pawn broking
offered by Maidam in the state of Terengganu. A total of 330 self-administered questionnaire instrument, were
distributed to the customer within the district of Dungun that had received financial assistance at Ar-Rahnu
Maidam. The sample was selected through quota samping and further executed by means of convenience
technique from the total customer of Ar-Rahnu Maidam Dungun. The result of the investigation demonstrated
that out of the eight selected demographic indicators, two of them which are marital status and occupational
sector demonstrated that there were significance differences among the group while the remaining six were not
significant. The evidence from the survey is expected to provide a limelight about the importance of Islamic
pawn broking in strengthening the industry.
Keywords: Ar-Rahnu, Maidam, pawn broking, demographic profile
1. Introduction
The main idea of the Islamic Pawn brooking set up is to provide the customer the option to obtain cash to fulfil
immediate financial needs through personal surety or pledge. With the understanding that Malaysia is known to
be one of the popular Islamic banking hub, the government continuously initiate several form of Islamic
financial instrument that are believed to be more competitive than the conventional financial instrument. As one
of the instrument been initiated by Malaysian Government, the establishment of Islamic Pawn Broking
(Ar-Rahnu) was made available to the Muslim public. For those who meet the requirement, it means that they
were given a backup financial assistance when needed. But in getting the assistance one need to pay for its
services. Thus it is the main objective of Ar Rahnu to help people who face financial difficulties and ensuring
them to be free from riba (Haron, 1996). For some institutions the amount would be reasonable but for some
others it would be much higher. From the view of Islam as a way of life, they need to help others as one of the
responsibilities that need to be address collectively.
Under the Syariah principle, by definition of Al-rahnu it possesses a guarantee. The Quran refers to the idea of
mortgage as mortgage with possession (rihanun maqbudha). Quran also supports the idea of furnishing a
pledge against a debt. It is through the initiative of Ar-Rahnu concept this institution developed its niche area of
offering a more flexible and convenience approach of giving financial assistance to the needy. As to the believed
whether it is allowable to the Islamic principle, the argument is very straight forward as explained by Khan and
Nisar (2004) where any valuable asset can be pledge as collateral for a debt.
The services provided through Ar-Rahnu scheme by MAIDAM is a societal marketing concept, purposely
designed for giving alternative to the Muslim especially during their hardship by giving them the debt with
collaterals (Mohd & Hashim, 1995). The important of helping the needy especially the poor has long been
emphasized in much of Islamic faith. Through the concept of Ar-Rahnu, the institution offers a more flexible and
convenience form of credit financing as governed by Syariah rules without having the element of interest in
the transaction. With the improving of religious belief, there is an increase trend that more Muslim communities
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are not in favor of using the conventional pawn broking service as it is closely attached with the element of
interest or riba that will be imposed in return for disbursement of credit. Thus the main idea of providing
Ar-Rahnu as an alternative financial instrument is to ease the life of the needy. This is much better as the scheme
offers a reasonable fee charges.
1.1 Scope of Study
The approach taken for the study is purely quantitative. The investigation is in the district of Dungun, which is
very much nearby to the oil and gas industrial zone in the state of Terengganu which is in the east coast region of
Malaysia. The survey approach through personally administered questionnaire is expected to provide a
fundamental understanding of the societies toward Islamic pawn broking. The selection of 330 samples is
believed to be adequate to represent the population of the study. The data which had been collected on
cross-sectional basis were tested and analysed by using descriptive statistic for the purpose of explaining the
major differences encountered by the study groups.
1.2 Problem Statement
Understanding and obedience to the Islamic principle in most transaction is always close at heart to most Muslim
communities. In the process of sustaining obedience one cannot simply skip from experiencing economic and
financial difficulties. Thus in order to sustain the living, at time people rely on borrowing that are made available
either through conventional or Islamic system. The relative usefulness of this form of financing discovered to be
very relevant with the changing pattern of socio-economic development in Malaysia today. Despite of the
income increment from most of the sectors, people still seeking extra form of financial aid to support living cost.
Based on this fact, the increasing popularity of Islamic pawn broking as means for financial assistance has
accelerated. Thus this paper proposed a comprehensive investigation by analysing demographic factors as to
what extent the issues of perceptual difference needed attention from the management of Maidam in ensuring the
favorable acceptance of customers at Ar-Rahnu Maidam.
1.3 Research Objective
The main concern of this paper attempted to investigate selected demographic factors towards customer
acceptance at Ar-Rahnu Maidam as their Islamic Pawn Broking. Specifically, the investigation is expected to
examine the possibility of significant differences among the selected profiles as related to the acceptance of
Ar-Rahnu.
1.4 Hypothesis
Hypothesis: There are significant differences between the selected profiles of the customers towards acceptance.
2. Literature Review
2.1 Customer Acceptance
Acceptance is adoption and continuing use of the product, service or idea. According to Rogers and Shoemaker
(1971), consumers go through a process of knowledge, persuasion, decision and confirmation before they are
ready to accept a product or service. Any attempt for drawing a conclusion from the perspective of customer as
well as the service institution should always considered a clear operational definition of customer acceptance
(Naylor & Greco, 2002). Understanding the motivations, expectations and desires of both provide a foundation
on how to provide best services to the customer by most businesses. The acceptance of the clients could also be
observed when they are willing to participate in anything that is related to the product or services offered
(Mansor et al., 2011a). It is agreeable that with the Increasing overall satisfaction it will leads to greater
repurchase intentions (Martin et al., 2008; Anderson & Sullivan, 1993) as well as actual repurchase behavior.
The operation of Ar-Rahnu to some extent is similar to most banking business where they provide financial
business transaction services to the customers. Customer acceptance on products or services offered is always
been associated with the familiarity and the degree of awareness and use of any given tool. The more people
using them, the more valuable they become. As such, the relevancy towards understanding customer acceptance
is vital as it act as a motivational drive for repeated selection (Holetzky, 2008) and will be favorably reflected by
the satisfaction indicated by the customers (Mansor et al., 2011b). In addition, as mentioned by Anderson and
Sullivan (1993) and Boulding et al. (1993), high customer satisfaction may lead to greater customer loyalty
which in turn leads to future revenue to the business operators.
2.2 Related Concept Associated with Customer Acceptance
Storage charge: As mentioned by Razak (2008), the concerned over higher interest rates as well as the
procedure of imposing higher interest rate by conventional pawnshop which are argued to be highly exploitative,
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open up Alternative Avenue that influence customers to choose the facilities offered by Islamic Pawnshop. It
seems that there is a relative high degree of differences on charges that make a burden to the lower-income
group.
Referring to Nur Azura Sanusi & Mohamad Shukri Johari (2007), customers that does not having proper banking
account are eligible to get the service of Pawn Brooking, while they may has difficulties to borrow money from
most financial institutions without it. The above procedure is unnecessary when having transaction with
Ar-rahnu Maidam. Islamic Pawn Broking offered charges in term of storage facilities which are much lower
compared to interest charge by conventional financial institution. As mentioned by Ismail and Ahmad (1997)
charges imposed at pawn broking is only about 2 percent which is cheaper compared to conventional system.
This lower charges attracted more individual to pursuit pawn broking in getting quick cash. In fact Naim (2008)
pointed what attract more Muslim to get this form of financial assistance is due to the willingness to accept the
concept of sadaqah (helping others with the blessing of Allah).
Service quality: Several literatures that attempt to discuss the concept and theories of service quality perception
discovered that the findings were still debatable (Caceres et al., 2007; Brady & Cronin, 2001; Zeithaml, 2000;
Zins, 2001; Oliver, 1994). With rapidly advancing technologies especially in the product and services that were
provided by various business sectors, the general public will become more aware about the acceptable values of
product and services that were offered (Weisbord, 1987) and poised to develop relationship marketing in
consumers live, while offering mass product choice and customizing services at personnel level (Mansor et al.,
2011).
It is naturally happened that perception of the people relatively change as the economy, technology, and
resources evolved. These changes therefore consciously or unconsciously altered the perceived quality of
mankind (Parasuraman et al., 1985). Similarly within the context of organizational development, elements such
as the need to understand employees performance and the nature of work setting therefore continuously needed
attention by the service providers (Mansor, Hamdan, Mohd, & Razali, 2010). As such the research development
on most constructs involving service quality still remain unsolved (Carhuana et al., 2004).
Mohammed et al., (2005) highlighted the important of maintaining reliable and trustworthy service while one
way of establishing a quality relationship with customers is by respecting customers trust (Haryati & Ali et al.,
2013). Following the standard business service ethics, the Islamic-based pawnshop must maintain all the relevant
record of customers, while ensuring that the record are treated with full confidentiality. At the same time it is the
responsibility of the Islamic-based pawnshop to fairly treat the customers regardless of their religion, race or
whatever demographic characteristics attached to them. It is therefore essential to revisit the fact that most issues
governing customer service is very much related with the acceptance of the service providers involved (Amin et
al., 2007).
Most researchers agreed that service quality by nature is highly subjective concept. Since the quality of customer
service is determined and evaluated by the customer, and this affects the desirability of a relationship with the
organization. Thus the understanding of how the customer think about service quality is essential in ensuring
effective relationship management that will further enhance customer satisfaction (Mansor et al., 2011c; Bedi,
2010; Abdullah, 2010; Oliver, 1994)
Locality: The process of sustaining acceptance is always closely associated with the issues of locality. It is
through a good understanding of the concept, and then only locality may contribute a significant impact upon
virtually all products, services, markets and customers. However one should not underestimate the relevancy of
the selection of business locations which greatly depend on types of business itself (Malhotra, 2009). As
suggested by Kotler and Armstrong (2010), there is a need to address the issue of location decision as it involved
people as the market potential. Any elements involving location always remained important as the organization
agreed to commit resources before operating the services. McDaniel et al. (2011) further conclude that for any
business to remain competitive and keep on expanding, they should not ignore the need to carefully strategize
the right location for its operation. Although the previous literature on Islamic Pawn broking revealed that the
competitiveness level of pawn broking are not intense enough, but still the need for addressing the issue of
locality and positioning of its business operation should be seriously considered. It seems that, most of the
pawnshops are built in the town areas to facilitate the customer of doing transactions. However the setting up
pawnshops businesses are highly unevenly distributed across the Malaysian states (Ismail & Ahmad, 1997),
although the density of the community in certain areas was considered.
Management Practices: Management has to have power to do its job (Drucker, 1986) and requires a
comprehensive set of managerial skills (Goodman et al., 2007). The art of management involved multiple facet
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process such formulating organizational strategic goals, utilization and managing competitive resources,
management of financial resources, and a few other activities that provide the right momentum for healthy
operation (David, 2009) It also includes the activities of administering data and other related information which
can be used and shared by the organization. The role and responsibilities for ensuring the effectiveness of
managing involved staff at all levels especially those at the managerial and supervisory levels. The main role of
management from Islamic perspective is to inculcate the Muslim communities towards continuing their living
throughout the world by offering alternative approach to Islamic ways of doing things. This scenario is vital to
the Muslim as they are not allowed to transact any business activities that are not in conformity with the Islamic
principles. Thus there is a religious demand for them to ensure that all transaction should be within the Islamic
values (Ahmad & Fontaine, 2011). Nevertheless in a broad perspective there are not much difference in the
operation of Islamic pawnshop transaction as to the conventional pawnshop. The major difference can be
observed based on the engagement of the contract whereby in the case of Islamic pawnshop the way a contarct is
enforced is based on the principle of aqad. With this approach, the basic principles need to be adhere involved;
al-qardhul Hassan (loan given should be free from interest), al-wadiah yadd hammanah (certain types of
valuable goods need to be produce by guarantee), al-ujrah (storage fees) and ar-rahn (collateral). The storage
fee which is normally much lower is been transacted based on the gold value rather than the actual amount of
loan lended (Appannan & Doris, 2010).
3. Methodology
3.1 Research Instrument
As the approach obtaining the data is through cross-sectional survey, the use of questionnaire is the main sources
to obtain the needed data. The pre-formulated questionnaires were divided into 2 sections. Section 1 consists of 7
items to describe the demographic profiles of the respondent. Section 2 focused on measure customers
acceptance. All questions in section 2 used likert scale for obtaining the responses.
3.2 Sampling Design
This study examines the customer of Ar-Rahnu in the district of Dungun. Based on the record generated by the
institution for the year ended 2010, there were approximately 2,700 clients that had received the service of the
Islamic Pawn Broking from the agency. Although a representation of 330 respondents were taken from the entire
population to form the desired sample size as suggested by Krejcie and Morgan (1970) but still this is a biased
sample as it is not adequate enough to reflect the broad cross section of customers distribution. The use of Quota
method and executed through convenience approach to some extent able to reflects the job or occupational sector.
In ensuring that the selection of sample at least able to meet the minimum representation of the population, the
controlled sample size were proportionately selected as follows: 35 of the 289 were from private sectors; 38 of
the 314 were from government sectors; 105 were selected to represent a total of 862 housewives; and another
152 samples were from the total of 1255 self-employed customers, thus making the total sample size to be 330
respondents. Majority of the respondents were male (61.8%) and the rest (38.2%) were female. 78.2% of
respondents have been married which is more than half. The percentage of 14.2% comes from single while the
lowest percentage comes from single parents which are 7.6.
4. Data Analysis
Prior to data analysis, all the collected questionnaires went through the process of editing, coding, and
transcribed into SPSS software for obtaining the expected results. In ensuring the reliability of items measuring
the concept, the data were initially tested through reliability analysis.
4.1 Reliability Analysis
All items measured for the study passed through the reliability assessment procedures where most of the item
was above the cronbach alpa value of > 0.7. As per suggested by Sekaran and Bougie (2010), when the alpha
scores is more than 0.70 then the measuring items are considered highly reliable for further analysis.
4.2 Frequency Analysis
As displayed in Table 1, majority of the customers were within the age bracket of 31 to 40 that made up 39.7%,
followed by 29.4% of those within the age group of 21 to 30 years old. For those from the age category of 41 to
50 made up the representation of 21.8%, and a small portion (7.3%) were those with the age of above 50 and the
young age group which is below 20 years old do participate in borrowing at the percentage of 1.8%. As been
stated by most literature those who are in need for small sum of money normally were among those who are
considered poor and low income earners. This is reflected in our sample where majority of the clients were
self-employed and other large representation were among the housewife representing 31.8%. There were also
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borrowers from the government servant as well as from private institution which constitute to be 11.5% and
10.6% respectively. Our sample distribution further reflected the representation of low income earners. Most of
the borrowers from Ar-Rahnu were of those within the income bracket of below RM 1000 which accounted to be
53.6 % of the total sampled. There were also those customers that had an earned income between RM1001 to
RM2000 which is 24.2%. A total representation of 12.1% were those with an earned income within RM2001 to
RM3000, 7.9% within RM3001 to RM4000 while the remaining 2.1% were with an income of more than
RM4001 per month.

Table 1. Frequencies of respondents profile
Category Demographic (n=330) Frequency %
Gender
Male
Female
204
126
61.8%
38.2%
Age
Below 20 years
21-30 years
31-40 years
41-50 ears
Above 51
6
97
131
72
24
1.8%
29.4%
39.7%
21.8%
7.3%
Monthly Income Level
Below RM1,000
RM1,000-RM2, 000
RM2, 000-RM3, 000
RM3, 001-RM4, 000
Above RM4, 001
178
80
39
26
7
53.9%
24.2%
11.8%
7.9%
2.1%
Education Level
Primary School
SRP/PMR
SPM
STPM/Diploma
Degree and above
8
35
205
60
22
2.4%
10.6%
62.1%
18.2%
6.7%
Duration of customer relationship with Ar-Rahnu
Maidam
Less than 1 year
2-3 years
4-5 years
More than 6 years
61
134
85
50
18.5%
40.6%
25.8%
15.2%
Frequency of visiting in year
1 time
2-3 times
4-5 times
More than 6 times
98
138
63
31
29.7%
41.8%
19.1%
9.4%
Note 1: USD = RM 3.10

Reviewing on the levels of education the analysis demonstrated that, the highest representation of the sample
were among those who had obtained secondary school education background which is 62.1%, followed by those
with STPM/Diploma representing 18.2%, a small fraction (6.7%) of those who had obtained Degree education
level and another 13% were those with no formal education or others. Regularity of having transaction with the
institution to some extent will provide evidence for the understanding acceptance, loyalty and trust. The
distribution of sample in this aspect indicated that 29.7% of the respondent visited the institution only once,
followed by a total representation of 41.8% had been dealing with the institution for two or three times. About
one fifth of the sample had been dealing with the institution between four to five times while the remaining of
9.4% constitutes of those having transaction with Maidam for more than five times.
4.3 Chi-Square Analysis
Table 2 displayed the analysis between respondents demographic and Customer acceptance towards Ar-Rahnu
MAIDAM. The analysis revealed that only marital status and occupational sector had the value of Pearson
Chi-square below than 0.05. It indicated that marital status and occupational sector were significantly difference
in terms of their acceptance.
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Table 2. Gender, marital status, age, monthly income, education level, occupational sector, duration of customer
relationship, frequency of visiting *customer acceptance
Customer Acceptance towards Ar-Rahnu Maidam Dungun

Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Uncertainty Agree
Strongly
Agree
Total
Chi
Square
Gender
Male 0(0%) 1(0.49%) 8(3.02%) 127(62.25%) 6(33.33%) 204(100%)
0.235
Female 1(0.79%) 0(0%) 3(2.38%) 68(53.97%) 54(42.86%) 126(100%)
Marital Status
Single 0(0%) 0(0%) 4(8.51%) 33(70.21%) 10(21.28%) 47(100%)
0.031 Married 1(0.39%) 1(0.39%) 7(2.71%) 145(56.20%) 104(40.31%) 258(100%)
Sgle Parents 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 17 (68%) 8 (32%) 25(100%)
Age
< 20 years 0(0%) 0(0%) 1(16.66%) 4(66.67%) 1(16.67%) 6(100%)
0.767
21-30 years 0(0%) 1(1.03%) 5(5.15%) 56(57.73%) 35(36.08%) 97(100%)
31-40 years 1(0.76%) 0(0%) 4(4.58%) 72(54.96%) 54(41.22%) 131(100%)
41-50 years 0(0%) 0(0%) 1(1.39%) 50(69.44%) 21(29.17%) 72(100%)
>50 years 0(0%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 13(54.17%) 11(45.83%) 24(100%)
Education Level
Primary Sch 0(0%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 4(50%) 4(50%) 8(100%)
0.407
SRP/PMR 0(0%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 25(71.43%) 10(28.57%) 35(100%)
SPM 1(0.49%) 0(0%) 5(2.44%) 111(54.15%) 88(42.93%) 205(100%)
STPM/Dip 0(0%) 1(1.67%) 4(6.67%) 41(68.33%) 14(23.33%) 60(100%)
Degree
above
0(0%) 0(0%) 2(9.09%) 14(63.64%) 6(27.27%) 22(100%)
Occupational Sector
Government 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 6(15.7%) 26(68.42%) 6(15.79%) 38(100%)
0.000
Private 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1(2.86%) 28(80%) 6(17.14%) 35(100%)
S/Employed 0 (0%) 1(0.66%) 1(0.66%) 88(57.89%) 62(40.79%) 152(100%)
Housewife 1(0.59%) 0 (0%) 3(2.86%) 53(50.48%) 48(45.71%) 105(100%)
Monthly Income Level
< RM1,000 1(0.56%) 0 (0%) 5(2.81%) 98(55.06%) 74(41.57%) 178(100%)
0.425
RM1,001-
RM2,000
0 (0%) 1(1.25%) 3(3.75%) 47(58.75%) 29(36.26%) 80(100%)
RM2,001-
RM3,000
0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1(2.56%) 27(69.23%) 11(28.21%) 39(100%)
RM3,001-
RM4,000
0 (0%) 0 (0%) 2(7.67%) 18(69.23%) 6(23.08%) 26(100%)
> RM4,001 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0(0%) 5(71.43%) 2(28.57%) 7(100%)
Duration of customer relationship with Ar-Rahnu Maidam
< 1 year 1(1.64%) 0 (0%) 2(3.28%) 38(62.30%) 20(32.79%) 61(100%)
0.131
2-3 years 0 (0%) 1(0.75%) 5(3.73%) 75(55.97%) 53(39.55%) 134(100%)
4-5 years 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 3(3.53%) 54(63.53%) 28(32.94%) 85(100%)
> 6 years 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (2%) 28(56%) 21(42%) 50(100%)
Frequency of visiting
< 1 time 1(1.02%) 0 (0%) 3(3.06%) 59(60.2%) 35(35.71%) 98(100%)
0.531
2 -3 times 0 (0%) 1(0.72%) 6(4.35%) 83(60.14%) 48(34.78%) 138(100%)
4-5 times 0 (0%) 0(0%) 2(3.17%) 33(52.38%) 28(44.44%) 63(100%)
> 6 times 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 20(64.52%) 11(35.48%) 21(100%)
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Analysis between gender and customer acceptance showed that majority of the respondents agreed that
Ar-Rahnu MAIDAM were accepted by customer. However, the value of Pearson Chi-square indicated that it was
not significant as indicated by the value of 0.235.
Analysis between marital status and customer acceptance towards Ar-Rahnu MAIDAM showed that majority of
the respondent with divorced status agreed that Ar-Rahnu scheme offered by MAIDAM are acceptable. For
married respondents, majority (96.51%) of them agreed, 2.71% were uncertain and only 0.78% did not indicate
their acceptance towards Ar-Rahnu scheme offered by MAIDAM. Similarly as for the respondents with single
status, 91.49% agreed and only 8.51% were uncertain that Ar-Rahnu scheme offered were acceptable by them.
The Chi-Square column shows that the result is significant at 0.031. It can be assumed that married respondents
are burden with many responsibilities and commitment towards their family.
Analysis between age and customer acceptance towards Ar-Rahnu MAIDAM showed that 100% of the
respondent above 51 years old found that Ar-Rahnu MAIDAM were acceptable. For the respondent between
41-50 years old, majority (98.61%) of them agreed and only 1.39% of them were uncertain about their
acceptance towards Ar-Rahnu MAIDAM. For the respondent between the age of 31-40 years old, 93.81% agreed,
5.15% were uncertain and 1.03% indicated their disagreement about their acceptance. 83.34% of the respondent
age below 20 years old indicated their acceptance of Ar-Rahnu MAIDAM and only 16.66% were uncertain about
their status of acceptance at Ar-Rahnu MAIDAM. The Chi-Square column shows that the result demonstrated
that there is no significant difference (0.767) as to the age group.
Further analysis between occupational sector and customer acceptance towards Ar-Rahnu MAIDAM was
performed. The analysis showed that 98.68% of the respondent from self-employed and only 0.66% of them was
uncertain about their acceptance towards Ar-Rahnu scheme offered by MAIDAM. For private sector respondent,
97.14% of them agreed and only 2.86% were uncertain about their acceptance of Ar-Rahnu scheme. 96.19% of
respondent from housewife agreed to accept Ar-Rahnu Maidam, 0.59% disagreed and 2.86% were uncertain, for
government respondents, 84.21% agreed and only 15.79% were uncertain about their acceptance towards
Ar-Rahnu Maidam. The Chi-Square column shows that the result is significant differences at 0.000. The
researcher concluded majority of self-empolyed comes to Ar-Rahnu Maidam because they know that Ar-Rahnu
scheme is a place where they can get cash immediately, to help them operating their business. This point strongly
supported by Appannan and Doris (2010). They said Islamic pawnshop (Ar-Rahnu scheme) is the most
appropriate mechanism as it provides a financial product for the lower-income group and small businesses which
usually have limited capital or have been excluded from the mainstream financial system.
For the analysis between monthly income level and customer acceptance towards Ar-Rahnu Maidam, the result
revealed that 100% of the respondent with an income group of above RM4, 001 agreed with Ar-Rahnu scheme
offer by Maidam. 97.44% of the respondent between the monthly income level of RM2,001-RM3,000 agreed
and only 2.56% were uncertain about the acceptance of the scheme offered. Of the respondent with monthly
income level below RM1,000, 96.63% agreed; only 0.56% and 2.81% did not agree and uncertain towards the
acceptance of Ar-Rahnu scheme offered. 95% of respondent between monthly income level of
RM1,001-RM2,000 agreed 1.25% of them disagreed and 3.75% were uncertain about their acceptance of
Ar-Rahnu Maidam. For those with monthly income of RM3,001-RM4,000, 92.31% agreed and only 7.67% were
uncertain on the status of their acceptance. The Chi-Square column shows that the result is not significant
differences at 0.425.
Table 2 further displayed the analysis between educational level and customer acceptance towards Ar-Rahnu
Maidam showed that majority 100% of the respondents with the Primary school and SRP/PMR (Lower Level
certificate) qualification. Of those from the SPM (Secondary School Level certificate), STPM (Higher School
certificate)/Diploma and Degree holder, the result demonstrated that 97.08%, 01.66% and 90.91% agreed with
the Ar-Rahnu scheme offer by Maidam. The Chi-Square column shows that the result is not significant
differences at 0.407.
For the analysis between duration of customer relationship and customer acceptance, the result showed that 98%
of the respondent had been Ar-Rahnu Maidam Dungun customer more than 6 years, agreed and only 2% were
uncertain that Ar-Rahnu Maidam had accepted by them. As for the respondent who had been Ar-Rahnu Maidm
Dungun customer between 4-5 years, 2-3 years and less than 1 year of them agreed and only 3.53%, 3.73% and
3.28% were uncertain about customer acceptance at Ar-Rahnu Maidam Dungun. The Chi-Square column shows
that the result is not significant differences at 0.131.
Analysis between frequencies of yearly visiting and acceptance towards Ar-Rahnu Maidam revealed that 100%
of the respondent in group more than 6 times agreed, 96.82% of those with 4-5 times visits and 3.17% were
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uncertain about their acceptance. Respondent with frequency of visiting less than 1 time (95.91%) agreed, while
only 1.02% and 3.28% disagreed and uncertain about the statue of their acceptance. As for the respondents who
had been visiting between 2-3 times, 94.92% of them agreed, 4.35% uncertain and 0.72% disagreed about their
acceptance at Ar-Rahnu Maidam. The Chi-Square column shows that the result is not significant differences at
0.531.
5. Conclusion and Recommendation
The issue of understanding differences is always remain relevant for most industrial practitioners. Any related
findings as to the above is very useful as it will provide evidence to those parties involved in formulating
strategies that attempted to accommodate difference characteristics of the public which could possibly end up
with better acceptance of the services rendered. Revisiting back the result from correlation analysis (Ahmad et
al., 2012), researcher discovered that several dimensions such as storage charge, service quality, locality, and
management practice indicated the significant relationship with the customer acceptance. Thus the need to
understand differences of customers profile should not be neglected. The effort taken to understand customer
acceptance is very much related toward the enculturation of Customer relationship Management (Mansor et al.,
2011c). In shaping the acceptance it will not be feasible to leave out earlier theory of service quality by
Parasuraman et al. (1985) and Bolton (1998); observing the efficient management practices (Ahmad & Fontaine,
2011) and considering the impact of locality and storage issues (McDaniel et al., 2011; Kotler, 1986; McCarthy
& Perreault, 1984; Laufer, 1979). Our finding in the case of Ar-Rahnu suggested that it is crucial to measure the
differences of the acceptance level as most literature demonstrated that the findings are inconsistent with each
other.
Reviewing back the mission statement of Ar-Rahnu, it seems that the approach taken to provide financial
assistance to the lower income group are getting popular response from the public from year to year. In fact the
public are highly confident with the services offered by the institutions. The public are very happy with the fees
charged on the principle borrowed as it is not too burdened in sustaining their living.
The management of the institution had been made to understand that the need of customers has to be satisfied,
while at the same time the obligation to assist the needy has to be equitably performed. The findings concerning
the inequality of acceptance based on occupational sectors as well as on the marital status needed serious
attention if Ar-rahnu Maidam is to remain relatively well accepted by the consumers.
This research was investigated only in one of the branches of Ar-Rahnu Maidam. There were several other
branches in the state, thus the findings may not be able to generalize the entire operation of Ar-Rahnu Maidam.
However the findings and the discussion on this study still found to be useful for the management of Ar-rahnu
MAIDAM in assessing the more appropriate strategies for handling the customers. For some cases one approach
may be good enough while some other group, several strategies may be considered to be more effective.
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